Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.

Topic: Brain and Behavior

This forum is for discussion of thoughts arising from and extending materials in Serendip's Brain and Behavior section. Comments entered here will be automatically posted. Comments not meant to be posted can be sent by Serendip.

Go to last comment or Post a comment

Serendip's forums sometimes get longer than what can conveniently be accessed and displayed. They are, at the same time, in their entirety an important part of what Serendip has become at any given time (and, of course, particular contributions may well be of lasting significance). To try and balance needs for easy display and those of continuous and permanent record, only this year's forum comments are displayed on this page with earlier comments being preserved elsewhere. To go to the forum for prior years, click on the year below.

Year: -- Current postings - 1999/2002 - 1998/1999 - 1997 - 1996

Name: Paul Grobstein
Username: pgrobste@brynmawr.edu
Subject: Evolving
Date: Fri Oct 29 11:50:09 EDT 1999
Comments:

To all visitors:

Serendip was born in 1994, and developed forums in 1996. The forums have been and continue to be a place where everyone is invited to make comments, ask questions, and carry on conversations about anything and everything that comes to mind when exploring Serendip. As such, they have been and continue to be an essential part of Serendip's development. At the same time, any developing organism needs periodically to refresh itself. The past remains but is put in boxes to clear the mind for the next part of the future. So have we done, as of today, with Serendip's forums. All past material is still available, by clicking on highlighted years above to access forum archives. And we have, as of today, a blank slate for the next phase of Serendip's development. If you have been here in the past, you're already a part of what Serendip has become so far. Please leave your thoughts as part of the next phase of Serendip's life. And if you're new, please join in as well.

Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject: Free Will
Date: Mon Nov 1 20:17:55 EST 1999
Comments:
When making a choice one must first look at that choice weigh their options which are based on past experience which are based on our reactions to past situations. I feel that free will is in the eye of the beholder. May the force be with you. Bang Out
Name: Glenn R. Manry
Username: Fnord325@juno.com
Subject: Is behavior important?
Date: Tue Nov 9 13:14:13 EST 1999
Comments:
In many posts to this forum, we see a reference to behavior, behavior, behavior, behavior. From a learning theory standpoint and a behavioral standpoint, behavior is thought to correlate with stimulus. In carefully, controlled experiments this is sometimes the case. Place a half-starved rat in a box with nothing but four walls and a lever, and walla lever pressing behavior occurs and is then reinforced by food. Change that environment in some meaningful way, and this correlation will disappear. Most researchers would not disagree with this, as it refers to the generality of stimuli across situations and reinforcement schedules. This is a major reason why behavioral models in education fail. Students leave the controlled environment and reinforcement schedules are lost

Let's look at a behavior, in situation "A" there is a person swinging a tennis racquet at a tennis ball with a forehand stroke at waist level. In situation "B" there is a person swinging a tennis racquet at a bee about to sting them, and the bee's center of mass is at the same relative position as the tennis ball in situation "A." Is this the same behavior?

For arguments sake, let's assume that the racquets travel the same paths exactly. The muscle exertion is identical. Is this the same behavior? Neurologically, we want to answer yes. Can we in fact do that?

Somewhere in the neurons there is a difference: defend my position vs. kill that bug!!! Is the situation then neurologically the same? What has happened vs. what is the person "doing."

Perception Control Theory developed by William Powers (1973) and other cybernetic models would contend that it is not stimuli or output (behavior) that is necessarily important. What is important lies in the comparison of perceptual inputs to a particular established reference standard. It is the discrepancy between these two things that correlates with behavior. In terms of output, any output that can rectify the difference between one's perception and the standard for how the perception should be will satisfy the situation.

For example, you want to go into the next room through a closed door. If your hands are free, you use them. If your feet are free you use them. You do whatever is necessary until your perceptual inputs register that you are in the next room. The particular sequence of muscular contractions is relatively unimportant.

In terms of free will, we engage in whatever behaviors are necessary to satisfy our series of reference standards, producing a closed negative feedback loop. The behaviors I use are constrained by physical environment and other control loops in the system. I cannot push a button an have the door open if there is no button. I can decide not to reduce the discrepancy between my perception (not in the other room) and my standard (want to be in the other room). This however produces an error signal that in turn produces negative affect of various types. If the other room is a bathroom, and I have to pee, then there are consequences for this act of free will.

One way to look at this system is from a deterministic viewpoint. We desire to attain equilibrium in the system such that the discrepancies between perceptions and reference standards are reduced to near-zero in short order. Thus we are at the mercy of these various reference standards.

Another way to look at this system is to assume that the form that behavior takes is not necessarily important to the system, unless a behavior from one standards discrepancy creates discrepancy in another standard (like role conflict in social psychology or the bathroom example above). We are able to choose, relatively freely, how we will eliminate discrepancies.

I know this is probably not too clear. In reading my examples, picture a thermostat (another cybernetic negative feedback system). Organisms engage in behavior not because of an external stimulus but because that stimulus does not match a value set by a pre-existing standard. The real stimulus is this discrepancy. Therefore, the goal is elimination of this difference, not the execution of A, B, or C specific behavior, unless the standard includes perceiving that A, B, or C has been executed.

Is swatting the bug the same as hitting the tennis ball? Does behavior (output) matter, or is there a more internal question. Is there free will or are we at the mercy of various neurological standards?

I don't know, but I thought it was interesting.

Name: Abbas
Username: likesea@home.com
Subject: Fractal particles of order in chaotic brain chemistry
Date: Tue Nov 9 19:10:50 EST 1999
Comments:
                         Chaos everywhere.   Who are the strange attractors bringing order to our world?   "It only takes a very small change to render a system chaotic, or conversely bring order to chaos. This event has been dubbed the strange attractor." http://www.beedance.com       Discover and experience the taste of these invisible fractal, geometrical particles of  communication, unity, operating the very complex, chaotic, condition of our physical body, in a subtle form of order. Upon the discovery of these fractal geometrical particles of life, the seeker identifies the focal point of concentration. A  state of certitute beyond reason and consequently dances like a bee or like a butterfly. Other worker bees or butterflies(other seekers of beauty, joy, helaing) will become aware of these particles of communication operating the physical body within and without, internally and externally. Learn this art of concentration.       "Chaos is not merely a mindless jiggling, it's a subtle form of order."                                                 
Name: Paul Grobstein
Username: pgrobste@brynmawr.edu
Subject: Behavior, bugs, free will
Date: Wed Nov 10 09:35:56 EST 1999
Comments:
Interesting indeed, Glenn. Lots of interestings. Let me see if I can tease them a part a bit. I didn't know about William T. Powers, or about Perceptual Control Theory, and was delighted to find out about both. For others who might be as well, the links were found on the Control Systems Group website (http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/csg/index.html) which has a host of additional material relevant to thinking about brain and behavior.

Important ideas are frequently (always?) reached along multiple different paths (indeed, that's perhaps the way one can best tell that they are important). For me, the notions that

comes from studies of the nervous system, rather than from studies either of behavior (alone) or of cybernetics (at least directly). The people who I think of as most helpful to me in that regard were Karl Lashley (particularly his 1951 paper, "The Problem of Serial Order in Behavior", and Erich von Holst (particularly a 1950 paper in German with Horst Mittlestaedt, translated as "The Reafference Principle". E. von Holst is harder than Lashley to find on the web: there's mention of him in Konrad Lorenz's Nobel autobiography, a relatively recent publication citing the German Das Reaffernprinzip is here, and a citation to the English translation here.). For general interest, there is in on the web a pretty good time line of neuroscience history (which, however, doesn't include von Holst).

Now ... it seems to me there's at least one other important idea in what you wrote, that of "free will". As you say, a system (the brain) can have all the properties we've agreed are important, and still be looked at "from a determinstic viewpoint". And I'm not entirely comfortable that simply having "another way to look at the system" is enough to make "free will" real: "is there free will or are we at the mercy of various neurological standards"? My feeling is that there is indeed "free will". AND that it is a function of the nervous system. For this, though, one needs to add a couple of additional nervous system characteristics:

Have a look at The Free Will Problem, and let me know what you think? Thanks for giving me some things to think about in turn; I'll teach Neurobiology and Behavior differently in the future because of it.
Name: Glenn R. Manry
Username: Fnord325@juno.com
Subject: Response and Thoughts
Date: Thu Nov 11 18:24:16 EST 1999
Comments:
William Power's 1973 "Behavior: The Control of Perception" is largely based on neurological theory and models. He premises his larger theory of perception control from a neurological argument in which the control of neural signals are regulated by negative feedback systems. He then adapts a largely signal based model from electrical engineering to this process and then orders it in a complex hierarchy based on abstraction from the external environment and the physical action of the body proper. I meant to include the Control System's Group in my post, but I ran short of time, as I was at work on lunch. I encourage you and others to play with Rick Marten's games and simulations, as they really make you think about what we know about behavior (or think we know). I often wrestle with the "free will" question with a friend of mine who studies criminology and social psych (I study Gender and Social Psych.). We go round and round. We eventually run into qualities and categories for which we have scant evidence, but "believe" to be the case. Another area that I find interesting to the issues of "free will," the nature of self, consciousness, etc. is the study of meditative techniques. Although only starting my own experiential practice, the use of bio-feedback, of course, has received a considerable amount of attention in recent years. Chinese systems of meditation are very interesting from a Meadian (I and Me) perspective in that they lead you to intense self-esperience that is to some degree scientifically observable (galvonic skin response, heart rate, brain wave states) in terms of the control of perceptions of one's physical state. Systems once relegated to the "unconscious" realm of the parasympathetic nervous system are under control by those who have mastered certain techniques, though not to the legendary proportions sometimes discussed. However, from the Chinese perspective, such self-awareness is not an indication of free will, but a larger indication of our harmony with a more abstract system (the Tao, Buddha nature, etc.). They (Chinese Taoist and Buddhist scholars) have a very external locus of control compared to the Western internal locus of control, culturally speaking. Yet at the same time, it is sometimes said that through such "divine" harmony one can affect one's will upon the universe, because that is in harmony with the way (almost a quantum duality). This is not too different from some Christian viewpoints that one's acts are God's acts because God acts through their faith. There is a fine line differentiating the source of the act in such statements. You have probably already thought of these issues, but I thought I would bring them up, just in case. Having played your Blindsight game (over 30% on answer C), I find it very similar to some experiences found in martial arts practice and some sports. Anticipation is not a conscious affair, if you value your safety or wish to best your opponent. In the Bujinkan martial arts system (lineage of systems involving samurai warfare and shinobi (ninja) warfare arts) the test for teaching certification is a simple one. Sit in front of the Head of the entire school and wait with eyes closed for him to swing a wooden sword (real one was used only about 30 years ago) down onto your skull, roll out of the way. He stands behind you when he does this. This man has over 50 years of sword experience, he makes no sound that you can "hear." To hear the accounts of those who have passed the test is very, very interesting from a psychological standpoint. The stories are varied. The more ancient martial arts and other practices have been generating empirical data that match our modern theories in interesting ways, and I believe that they may be a great pool for future research. More recent evidence, of which I am sure you are aware, points to the Hippocampus linking it to what we call intuition. The ability to see patterns and reach conclusions from scant information may be a natural neurological skill that some have had the fortune to build upon, and others have not. This also is very similar to blind sight and saving your skull. :-) I have not made it through your collection of writings, having only found your website a couple of days ago, but I look forward to checking in and seeing what is going on. I saw a reference to chaos in one post, and one of your headings points to complexity, and I assume this means complexity theories. All are very compatible with the dynamic approach shared by Perceptual Control Theory (PCT). I have used PCT in the study of Identities from a sociological social psych. perspective, using Identity Theory as put forward by Peter Burke (my Ph.D. committe chair) http://burkep.libarts.wsu.edu . My knowledge of neurology is not very broad, but I am working on shrinking that void. I look forward to looking through your pages for some time. Thank you for the opportunity to excercise my mind and put some things into perspective. I am making linkages that I had not previously seen. Glenn Manry
Name: Glenn R. Manry
Username: Fnord325@juno.com
Subject: Response and Thoughts II
Date: Thu Nov 11 18:36:29 EST 1999
Comments:
My cutting and pasting wiped out any formatting of my previous post. Sorry. None of it ran together originally. Having read now "The Problem of Free Will" and "Variability in Brain Function and Behavior," I have some thoughts. The self-experiment in the former article does indeed point out a phenomenon that seems to be free of outside interference. Except that my choices have been constrained by your very instructions. I cannot see a hot fudge sunday, although that may be what I will to happen. Yes, this is nit picky, and I do agree with your basic conclusion. We must decide if free will must mean no boundaries or free within parameters. I had a long discussion concerning this topic with a student of mine in a Social Problems class. We were discussing discipline methods in schooling. An interesting point related to the second article is that the PCT model and other models similar to it have behavioral variability built into them, as they are not seeking a particular output, although they are seeking a particular outcome, the matching of an input to a reference standard. There is a social psychological theory called affect control theory that operates similarly to PCT, and it predicts classes of behavior that can achieve a particular outcome. It produces variable outputs to a singular outcome. It centers on Osgood Succi and Tannenbaums 1957 work on semantic differentials and three dimensional meaning space. Any object (situation, person, place, thing) can be evaluated on three dimensions of evaluation (good/bad), potency (weak/strong), and activity (active/passive). These three dimensions out of an original 100 and something determine over 50% of the variance among responses of thousands and thousands of individuals from the same general culture. Scores derived from these dimensions are very similar from subject to subject producing no significant differences in large samples (intrinsic variability still applies as with any distribution of a low sample number). Affect control theory has produced a program called INTERACT. This program has a huge catalog of terms representing actors and others, behaviors, settings, and various affective modifiers. You can construct a scenario such as "the man sees the mother strike the child." The "fundamental sentiment" (standard) is that mothers do not strike children. The transient sentiment (perception) is that the mother has indeed done so. This causes deflection or error (as in PCT). The behavior is then that meaning value that restores the transient sentiment back to the meaning value of the fundamental sentiment. This is identical in process but not in substance to PCT, and it uses only simple meaning scores. The program is quite spooky, I think. What it does is it spits out a list of outputs that would render the right fundamental sentiment value from the transient sentiment. Many of them make perfect sense. Some miss the mark, and ,would in a more complex system of standards, produce further problems. It is simple in its outputs, but at the same time so elegant. The algorithms are complex, and I really do not know that much about the mathematical specifics. David Heise has been the main mover and shaker in this theory. People are surprised to here that social psychology has such refined mathematical theory, that more or less works! Yet, the issue of intrinsic variability in outputs is included in these types of theories. Of course, there are a lot of things that these theories do not deal with, neurology being one issue. Although PCT claims a grounding in neurological process. The important issue for these theories is the intended outcome (intention, goals, standards) and not the outputs. Another interesting thing we can observe about intrinsic variability concerns the change in identity scores over time. We say that identities are fairly stable over time, and they are. If they were not, we would be constantly questioning our realities in ways that are only for the very, very smart or the disturbed. Over the long haul we can see large changes. A score may change from (pulling numbers from the air) 2.5 down to 1.6 Quite a change. This is over a period of say six data observations. The first one went from 2.5 down to 2.375 (2.5*.95) then down to 2.265 (2.5*.95), etc. The same amount of decrease over time produces of course huge decreases over time, but it does not produce any noticeable changes from "moment" to moment. I've always been me, but now me is different from then me.** I thought this would be interesting to you, as you discuss those "things" that make you, you. You are always changing to keep you in equilibrium, or as best as you can manage. So, like in chaos, small changes take us to interesting places, yet we hardly saw a change. Our problem theoretically, and so much of what you are saying points to this, is our demand that things occur in a linear fashion. They simply do not. There are few if any naturally straight lines in the Universe. Even light is affected by heat and gravity. So, as not to digress further, free will is possible and necessary, otherwise death would be quick and sure. However, all information and all possibilities are not simultaneously present. I cannot choose to see the logo in ultraviolet. I can imagine what that might looklike translated through a particular lense. Freedom among multiple constrained possibilities is still freedom? I think so, the argument I made to my student in the Social Problem's class. However, things are still changing that we might not be aware of, and that guides our range of freedom. Freedom is not absolute, but what is? I have to read some more. You are drudging up several old thoughts and generating quite a few new ones. I hope my ramblings are semi-clear. Thanks. Glenn Manry
Name: Kenneth Dunning
Username: dunn@skat.net
Subject: Fetal Alcohol Sydrome
Date: Fri Dec 3 11:31:21 EST 1999
Comments:
In reading Damasio's "Descarte's Error" I am struck by how closely Phineas Gage's symptoms resemble Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Effects (FAS/E). It is rewarding to see this authoritative description of a real but highly unrecognized condition of the human brain/mind in a clear and readable form. I recommend this book for anyone seeking insight into the disabilities accompanying FAS/E. Kenneth Dunning
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject: Huh?
Date: Tue Dec 21 12:57:13 EST 1999
Comments:
What the hell?
Name: dont have 1
Username: leec@dr.com
Subject: i know
Date: Mon Jan 24 07:51:34 EST 2000
Comments:
great web site!!!but see what you think of mine, and you can post me a message!!http://getmesome.homestead.com/homepage.html use the links too, and as its a new site, please do what you can to help me promote it!!
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject: thinking aloud
Date: Tue Jan 25 07:24:06 EST 2000
Comments:
To the notion that the brain and behavior are everything I say not they are not. This statement would deny the immaterial that is often called spirit, or soul. This statement would also reduce emotions such as love, joy, happiness, sorrow to mere results of physiological reactions of the body. It may be said that to believe these statements one must first be a theist. An atheist, who is consistent with his worldview, that everything is material and the immaterial does not exist can only conclude that the brain and behavior are everything, and if further consistent that such things as love and sorrow are reactions of atoms bouncing around.

Consider the following picture and how it fits in the scheme of things. So often there are people in hospitals who have suffered and are classified as brain dead. Every reason is given to "pull the plug". Yet when we are spectators looking "objectively" at these cases we too quickly and easily conclude the same. Perhaps then the brain and behavior is everything, for in this person there is none and so no reason to continue sustaining life. But when this picture hits home and it is a mother, father, or loved one who is "brain dead", then it doesn't become so easy to pull the plug. And the conviction that the brain and behavior being everything loses strength. There indeed seems to be life, soul, spirit, emotions within that motionless, "brainless" person lying in that bed. Deep inside then do we know that the brain isn't everything.

On another side note: if the brain and behavior are everything then it would seem that we are simply robotic, though not controlled by electronic workings but physiological.

Name: lauren
Username: lbrock@indiana.edu
Subject: where are the dots?
Date: Wed Feb 16 18:34:23 EST 2000
Comments:
I tried this several times, and event huogh I can see the test dot sometimes ( I don't see that everytime I hit try mo matter what the setting) I haven't seen a single dot in the play mode.
Name: Meaning
Username: meaning42@att.net
Subject: Random stimulation of forebrain during REM sleep
Date: Fri Feb 25 14:15:59 EST 2000
Comments:

Hi there...

Firstly, congratulations on this site! I stumbled across it this morning and haven't managed to escape yet. I can see myself spending much more time here.

My question is just a quickie, which may become more detailed in a later posting:

In Memory Consolidation and REM Sleep, Robert Miller mentions "the random stimulation of the forebrain by the brain stem" that occurs during REM sleep. Can anyone tell me where I could find out more about that stimulation?

cheers,
Meaning

Name: gareth
Username: starclan77@hotmail.com
Subject: Free will and REM
Date: Fri Mar 10 11:23:43 EST 2000
Comments:
I stumbled onto this site from a friend's email and have enjoyed perusing it. The free will test I thought a bit singular and not too enterprising. I was watching both arrows at the same time and told to choose one or the other. I almost chose to ignore it, but decided to read both commentaries. Well, duh! REM has an interesting potential while awake. Check out www.rapideyetechnology.com.
Name: Meryl & Danielle
Username: TommyGirl4456@yahoo.com & FallingStar117@aol.com
Subject: The brain makes things up!
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:17:35 EDT 2000
Comments:
After being in the class and discussing the brain and it's blinds spots I thought about it and it came to me...... how do I know that what I am seeing right now, my brain is not making up???? Meryl & Danielle
Name: Emily Brill
Username: EmAngel10@aol.com
Subject: Serendip
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:19:14 EDT 2000
Comments:
Serendip, I thought the experiment on eye sight was trickey but fun. It was challenging though. I think that if you made anouther one I would be amazed. This is just my opinon, and I bet many others will also be amazed.
Name: Jessica
Username: Jessld111@aol.com
Subject: The blind spot
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:23:55 EDT 2000
Comments:
This site was really cool. I got to try out new things that had to do with the eye and the brain and at the same time learned something. Now I realize how they did the Apple Jacks comercial on tv. I really liked doing it.
Name: Maya
Username: HalcyonDM@yahoo.com
Subject: it doesn't work!
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:25:37 EDT 2000
Comments:
Serendip, I tried your exercise but somehow i can't find my blind spot. It worked last year, but I don't know what happened. Is there a problem w/ my eye(s)? Send help please:( ***Maya***
Name: Meryl & Danielle
Username: TommyGirl4456@yahoo.com & FallingStar117@aol.com
Subject: What am I really seeing???
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:26:27 EDT 2000
Comments:
After looking at the brain and behavior page and trying out the different experiments began to think.... is my brain making up what i am really seeing????? Meryl & Danielle
Name: Marissa
Username: MPDomsky
Subject: comments
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:28:37 EDT 2000
Comments:
I think it was fun to learn about the eye and the blindspot. I learned alot. The blindspot was COOL!
Name: jasmine
Username:
Subject: my blindspot
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:28:39 EDT 2000
Comments:
I love eyes, because I can see things that are not there. People probably like them too. I have eyes to see people and things.
Name: jasmine
Username:
Subject: my blindspot
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:28:41 EDT 2000
Comments:
I love eyes, because I can see things that are not there. People probably like them too. I have eyes to see people and things.
Name: ondraya
Username:
Subject:
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:31:41 EDT 2000
Comments:
i think this is fun . i think it is cool. does everyone like the serendip. do you like serendip. i love the serendip.
Name: DANIELLE Williams
Username:
Subject: MATHEMATICS
Date: Thu Apr 6 14:30:01 EDT 2000
Comments:
I think that what i learned is weird...It's cool the way the brain makes stuff up. I learned that the brain is smart. And that my brain is smart. My brain can make up colors, lines, and patterns.
Name: John Protheroe
Username: Prothe38@cortland.edu
Subject: Implict Visual Processing Demonstration
Date: Tue May 9 11:57:46 EDT 2000
Comments:
I completed this task for a Cognitive Psych experiment and I did 40 trial runs and I got 34 that I knew I saw. and 3 for each of the other catagories. It was a good time and alot of fun. Thanks!
Name: anonymous
Username: kaco44@yahoo.com
Subject: second day of institute
Date: Tue Jul 11 22:34:40 EDT 2000
Comments:
Enjoyed today's session, but am frustrated by my limited knowledge of the anatomy of the nervous system. We haven't even broached the area of research findings as they relate to brain development, education, human psychology, etc. Way too much detail obviously for a two-week institute. Want to ask what we can realistically expect to gain from this institute in terms of our roles as educators/guides/nurturers of children and adolescents. Paul is enigmatic, both reserved and friendly at the same time. I'm beginning to relax in the company of new acquaintances.
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject: 7/11 hoopla
Date: Wed Jul 12 06:32:19 EDT 2000
Comments:
Name: hking
Username: sourwench@aol.com
Subject: any given sunday
Date: Thu Jul 13 04:09:36 EDT 2000
Comments:
Why did the axon cross the road? How many sensory neurons does it take to screw in a light bulb? Who's buried in Lucretia Mott's tomb? I gots to know. Pretty fun to witness a reverse reverence for science which bristles at the intrusion of the spiritual. Paul is the scientific answer to Robert Bly. Trusting we will be walking by next week as we struggle on our hands and knees now. Alison was supreme. She helped everyone develop links for projects and was got people talking to each other. BBI is a blessing in my life. Oops. I mean it's very enlightening.
Name: Judy Vlad
Username: AAAJAVA@AOL.COM
Subject:
Date: Thu Jul 13 15:29:05 EDT 2000
Comments:
LEARNING ABOUT SPIRITUALITY AND WHOLELISTIC LIVING. HOW OUR BRAINS REFLECT HARMONY AND PEACEFULLNESS INTO OUR WELL BEING AND GENERAL INTERACTION WITH OUR WORLD.

There is a world wide trend pulling human kind to wholelistic living and spiritual development. The reading that I have completed all share a common thread of a heightened awareness mankind is awakening to as the new millenium unfolds.

p.1

This page was created by Judy Vlad, Adopt-a-Home director July 13,2000.

Name: hking
Username: sourwench@aol.com
Subject: 7/17 show
Date: Mon Jul 17 02:25:20 EDT 2000
Comments:
Dear colleages, It is 2:21 a.m. Am live from New York post-ignition trouble. Nice to have some intellectual gestation time on Broadway. Want to be with you but will probably be late. Please forgive. Heidi
Name: Alexei Dechevoi
Username: deictic@usa.net
Subject: Serendip vs. free will
Date: Mon Jul 17 06:53:23 EDT 2000
Comments:
Hello. Two sets of images that comprise the test-- green and yellow elemets-- are not identical to consider a choice between them to be freely determined. The yellow part is seen as a background-- it takes more space and visually encloses the green elements, which provides for the intellegent reading of test. This means that in this particular instance our will is not "free" but governed by laws of visual composition and our reason that recognizes these laws. Thank you.
Name: hking
Username: sourwench@aol.com
Subject: just thinking
Date: Sun Jul 23 23:06:19 EDT 2000
Comments:
Learning the basics of consciousness on the microsmic level provokes questions about patterns in so many other area. How does the "i function" operate for different social groups? In what circumstances doe it encourage or inhibit learning? How do cherished concepts about reading, group work, homework, etc. stand up in the light of neurobiology? Can our educational system become sensitive enough to the organic realities of learning that they shape our school environments and curriculum? Thanks for rattling cages. Feels like we are just getting warmed up--some good conversations ahead.
Name: alf collins
Username: alf_collins@hotmail.com
Subject: Pain phenomenology
Date: Fri Oct 13 10:44:31 EDT 2000
Comments:
I like your site and the interesting links. I am a pain management specialist interested in the phenomenolgy of pain. I'm intereseted in why we get pain, not how. What is the relationship between pain, suffering and the self? I like the I-system approach, but there is much more. Pat Wall scratches the surface in 'Pain and the Science of Suffering.' Dick Chapman in Washington is interested in this, but in my own professional community of pain specialists, few others seem interested. Does anyone out there have a view ? Please contact me at my email address
Name: markhelquist
Username: markhelquist@hotmail.com
Subject: Catotonic Schizophrenia
Date: Tue Oct 17 14:25:44 EDT 2000
Comments:
A few years ago in the San Francisco area a designer drug called NPTP was made and a side effect of it put many people into what was called catotonic schizophrenia. The patients spent several years in hospitals when finally they were given L-dopa. After that they completely recovered. MY question is during that time of the catotonic Schizophrenia were they aware of it?. Did they know what was going on around them??? Any thoughts?? -Mark
Name: gem
Username: gemoffatt@hotmail.com
Subject: Induced Behavior
Date: Sat Oct 21 18:01:49 EDT 2000
Comments:
In my garden are several almost flourescent orange grasshoppers. These creatures are found on the dark green leaves of my monardia and on the purple leaves of basil presenting themselves in conspicuous ways. If I lean over and peer at them closely they fidget & twitch as if they would like to hide but cannot. I am only a gardener but I suspect I am looking at the intermediate host of some parasite of that type which induces behavior in order to achieve its desired host. The implication of this induced behavior seems clear: some tiny worm with hardly any nervous system, and no brain to speak of, has in it's position a world view sufficiently complex to permit its migration through various organic systems and the ability to induce fairly complex behavior in at least one other creature which has, if not great intelligence, a discernable brain. Is someone researching this phenomena? Think of all the benefits for a gardener if he could program the ants!
Name: catheine
Username: catie3717@aol.com
Subject: blindsight page
Date: Mon Oct 30 21:58:00 EST 2000
Comments:
I just visited your webpage on blindsight to supplement my book's readings. The information you gave did make the subject more clear, but I couldn't get the demonstration to work for me. I'm not sure if I'm following the direction correctly. But I was just writing to say the that the information was helpful.
Name: Hannah
Username: none@none.com
Subject: Dumb
Date: Fri Nov 3 09:16:32 EST 2000
Comments:
I can't see anything and don't like this game and think it's quite stupid. Thank you! Hannah
Name: jackie
Username: sharkie311@hotmail.com
Subject: blindsight
Date: Sun Nov 5 00:38:32 EST 2000
Comments:
haha, that game was hilarious! maybe i would have done better if i wasn't so tired from studying- 44% accuracy overall!
Name: anonymous
Username: anonymous
Subject: WOW
Date: Sun Nov 19 21:02:28 EST 2000
Comments:
Woah, all I have to say to the posts is that you guys are reeeeeeally smart! THE END.
Name: Jeremy Lynes
Username: linelites@mindspring.com
Subject: mind body separation
Date: Wed Dec 20 21:13:22 EST 2000
Comments:
Does anyone know of any work done to distingish the line of demarcation between the mind and the creation of impulse signals? In other words, experiments that help determine if there is a boundary between physical and mental such that thoughts of the mind cannot be considered in the physical realm? Could you please pass this on to him? Thank you Jeremy Lynes
Name: Jon Pankhurst
Username: jon_pankhurst@hotmail.com
Subject: behaviour
Date: Tue Jan 9 08:46:06 EST 2001
Comments:
I need some help. Can anyone help me by telling me what makes people behave badly at work? If you have any ideas please please email me at jon_pankhurst@hotmail.com. Thank you
Name: Alex Wildenhaus
Username: wildhaus@bright.net
Subject:
Date: Fri Feb 2 20:50:04 EST 2001
Comments:
I am doing a science project in which I picked three girls and three boys each from the 1st grade, 5th grade, and 8th grade to play a game called jump all but one game. The board is a triangle that has hole in it. All holes are filled with a golf tee except one. The object of the game is to jump all the tees taking out the jumped tee so that only one tee is left. On the average the first graders did better than the fifth or eight graders. Also the girls did better on their third try, while the boys stayed relatively the same. On an average the girls did slightly better than the boys. Do you have any information to explain these results.
Name: Nirupama
Username: nkumar@brynmawr.edu
Subject: superman and whatnot
Date: Tue Feb 6 00:11:23 EST 2001
Comments:
Certainly one of the most striking things about a quadrapalegic is the amazing retention of mental faculties, despite the physical inabilities. This capacity shows how some aspect of being human resides in the brain..separate from the body's physicality. A quadrapalegic may not be able to move any of it's limbs or body, but can still be shown to communicate and think. The body of a quadrapalegic is cut off from the brain, and consequently loses control over his body. This loss of control shows how the nervous system operates like a set of interconnected input-output boxes--these boxes, ie, the brain and the body's sensory neurons, must be directly connected for the nervous system to relay messages. Thus, the behavior of a quadrapalegic is extremely limited in the physical sense to only functions above the neck, such as talking and blinking, etc. More to this person, however, still exists showing that there is much more to the brain, other than physical behavior. And, it is not our bodies, but our brain which defines who we are, that 'self' which thinks and emotes..not merely feels and reacts.
Name: Amphian Group
Username: none@none.com
Subject: Get ANY Hotmail password!!!
Date: Fri Feb 23 01:30:10 EST 2001
Comments:
Hi mates!
To Amphian Group:

Friends, this posting was completely unrelated to the subject of this forum area. And, in addition, the material posted could have caused trouble for us as a website. So, we've removed the body of the posting. Please help us and others maintain the web as a comfortable place for the free exchange of ideas by respecting the different intents and audiences of different open forum areas, and posting your information in places appropriate for it.

Paul Grobstein
for Serendip

Name: Victoria D. Gaines
Username: vdgaines@crosswinds.net
Subject: Brain or Mind?
Date: Thu Mar 15 12:28:50 EST 2001
Comments:
Oh, to the Mysteries of the Universe!

Just where do thoughts and inspiration come from? Can you really believe they merely emanate from brain chemistry? Surely there is more than the material world which human science can observe and measure?

First, there was the thought, the idea, the Word. But from who or what? From out of the Void; back into the Void. But what is the Void (that which existed before the Big Bang) from which all sprang?

Will we ever know? Do we dare ever know? Can our poor, paltry brains ever contain such "gargantuan" ideas?

Yes, I believe in free will but I also believe in Divine Will.

So many paradoxes in life, in death.

Please visit my website at www.crosswinds.net/~vdgaines and read some of my poetry for more of my philosophical idea.

Name: kelsie
Username: brat01
Subject: genders + brain
Date: Fri Mar 16 14:21:35 EST 2001
Comments:
Does the gender of a person effect the way they think.
Name: anonymous
Username: jollychap@lineone.net
Subject: scoptopic syndrome and mathematics
Date: Sat Mar 17 15:33:49 EST 2001
Comments:
Can anyone please help? I am doing an assignment of dyslexia/discalcular and scoptopic syndrome in mathematics and how the disabled persons can be helped. I am finding it difficult to locate concise information regarding theses afflications. If anyone could help out with web links, text documents and general information, I would be very grateful for anything you have to offer.
Name: Jack Cunningham
Username: JackQuerouak@hotmail.com
Subject: supposing
Date: Mon Mar 26 17:07:04 EST 2001
Comments:
Supposing there is a god, and that god sometimes sends down some very important guys to do something, now I propose an unusual exercise: what would one present day important guy have to say about, say, Damasio´s "Descarte's error"? Political exercise: what would be the relative worth of such reviews?
Name: stephen
Username: aaa#sss
Subject: help pls
Date: Wed Jun 27 10:03:49 EDT 2001
Comments:
pls tell me some functions of synaptic arrangements in terms of human behavior. if possible, pls give me concrete examples( email me at aloha_gurl@edsamail.com.ph)... thank you PS- synaptic arrangements ar linear, divergent, convergent and feed back-loop
Name: Karen Garner
Username: garnerkt@navair.navy.mil
Subject: HANDEDNESS AND PERFORMANCE
Date: Thu Jun 28 09:37:42 EDT 2001
Comments:
Does anyone have references citing the ability of left-handed people to operate equipment designed and oriented for right-handed operation - good or bad? Background: A manufacturer is considering putting a control for cursor control and other display selection into a preproduction system. The control is tubular with a horizontal orientation on the right side of the crewstation. (Picture a piece of pipe with a few pushbuttons or switches sticking out of it - wiring for the switches runs along the inside of the tube. The tube is capped at the end.) The cursor position is intended to be moved using the thumb while other fingers would operate different controls, such as hook or select. Any leads would be useful.
Name: Jim Smith
Username: sufferedsevereburns@hotmail.com
Subject: Are you responsible while intoxicated?
Date: Mon Jul 23 16:08:04 EDT 2001
Comments:
Are people responsible for their behavior while under the influence of alcohol?(please explain) Please include your age and gender. reply to sufferedsevereburns@hotmail.com
Name: Pam
Username:
Subject: christopher
Date: Tue Jul 24 13:48:10 EDT 2001
Comments:
if one can perceive the notion of taking a head and attaching it to another body, then why can't the severed neurons be reattached for christopher?
Name: Shanay
Username:
Subject: Education Relevance
Date: Thu Aug 2 13:32:57 EDT 2001
Comments:
We feel that the topics that were covered during this institute were relevant in array of areas such as: how input and output have direct correlation to the neurons in the brain and how this invariably effects various behaviors in the nervous system; how the eye function has so much to do with behavior and various outcomes.
Name: John Bapty Oates
Username: johnb-oates@humantruth.co.uk
Subject: Fundamentals
Date: Mon Aug 20 05:46:48 EDT 2001
Comments:
The nervous system, including the lower brain (which I call the conscious mind,) serves instinct which serves the primitive being. The upper brain, the postconscious, is purposed to guide the human being according to truth. The human race, regardless of the postconscious, has misguidedly developed the conscious mind to a huge extent and still applies it to pursuit of the instinctive drives, with preposterous results. Prevalent thinking, the self its focul point, takes place in the conscious mind within the conscious sphere (as distinct from the postconscious mind outside the conscious sphere - see below). Our reality, as we conceive it, with all our institutions including education, occupies the same conscious sphere. But the conscious mind is incapable of truth, as is demonstrated by the many different beliefs and opinions which we are able to hold true, and by our failure, over centuries, to find answers and solutions to the big questions and problems. The postconscious mind is a large section of the neocortex which (right from its initiation by mutation) has been isolated, largely ignored, and - apart form its "still, small voice of conscience"- put outside the sphere of reality by the conscious self. But truth is the function of the postconscious mind. To achieve its function it must be free and independent. It must be aware of affairs in the conscious sphere but must not be directly involved in wilful machinations of mind which render truth unattainable. Now, if the truth were put to an institution of the conscious sphere it would be refuted, rejected out of hand, probably ridiculed. The reason for this is that to be accepted as true a proposition must be proven by evidence and argument, and in this sphere that means conscious evidence and argument. But since the conscious mind is incapable of truth that proof is worthless. Truth is the province of the postconscious mind, but since the postconscious is isolated from consciousness that proof is not available to us. Therefore, if truth is to be attained, postconscious guidance must be followed intuitively by the conscious to which its truth shall subsequently be demonstrated as events unfold. In the meantime, since truth arises from a postconscious mind it can be immediately understood and accepted only by another postconscious. In view of the mountains of conscious evidence and argument ranged against it (a good example is the pile of academic philosophy), truth, or humantruth as I call it, seems to stand little chance. However, as our bizarre reality produces mounting evidence of collective insanity, of 'man's inhumanity to man', there comes increasing conscientious pressure for change. The foundations of this reasoning can be found on www.humantruth.co.uk
Name: John Bapty Oates
Username: johnb-oates@humantruth.co.uk
Subject: Fundamentals
Date: Mon Aug 20 05:47:21 EDT 2001
Comments:
The nervous system, including the lower brain (which I call the conscious mind,) serves instinct which serves the primitive being. The upper brain, the postconscious, is purposed to guide the human being according to truth. The human race, regardless of the postconscious, has misguidedly developed the conscious mind to a huge extent and still applies it to pursuit of the instinctive drives, with preposterous results. Prevalent thinking, the self its focul point, takes place in the conscious mind within the conscious sphere (as distinct from the postconscious mind outside the conscious sphere - see below). Our reality, as we conceive it, with all our institutions including education, occupies the same conscious sphere. But the conscious mind is incapable of truth, as is demonstrated by the many different beliefs and opinions which we are able to hold true, and by our failure, over centuries, to find answers and solutions to the big questions and problems. The postconscious mind is a large section of the neocortex which (right from its initiation by mutation) has been isolated, largely ignored, and - apart form its "still, small voice of conscience"- put outside the sphere of reality by the conscious self. But truth is the function of the postconscious mind. To achieve its function it must be free and independent. It must be aware of affairs in the conscious sphere but must not be directly involved in wilful machinations of mind which render truth unattainable. Now, if the truth were put to an institution of the conscious sphere it would be refuted, rejected out of hand, probably ridiculed. The reason for this is that to be accepted as true a proposition must be proven by evidence and argument, and in this sphere that means conscious evidence and argument. But since the conscious mind is incapable of truth that proof is worthless. Truth is the province of the postconscious mind, but since the postconscious is isolated from consciousness that proof is not available to us. Therefore, if truth is to be attained, postconscious guidance must be followed intuitively by the conscious to which its truth shall subsequently be demonstrated as events unfold. In the meantime, since truth arises from a postconscious mind it can be immediately understood and accepted only by another postconscious. In view of the mountains of conscious evidence and argument ranged against it (a good example is the pile of academic philosophy), truth, or humantruth as I call it, seems to stand little chance. However, as our bizarre reality produces mounting evidence of collective insanity, of 'man's inhumanity to man', there comes increasing conscientious pressure for change. The foundations of this reasoning can be found on www.humantruth.co.uk
Name: Kristie
Username: kkr@hotmail.com
Subject: HElp
Date: Thu Aug 30 19:23:24 EDT 2001
Comments:
I am taking a course for Penn State and need information sites or materials off the web for biological theories in relations to these topics effects of prenatal teratogens, stress, alcohol, drugs, neglect. Thank you please mail if can
Name: Sofi
Username: s_nygirl@hotmail.com
Subject: In the search for help
Date: Sat Sep 15 17:13:27 EDT 2001
Comments:
hi! i am a high school student and i am taking the biology research class. I wanted to do my research in the question:"is a religous experience be nothing more than a lack of blood in cirten parts of the human brain?" and i don't know where to start. please help me, my e-mail is: s_nygirl@hotmail.com
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject:
Date: Thu Oct 4 15:35:54 EDT 2001
Comments:
your game is really boring
Name: Jack Cunningham
Username: Jack@hotmail.com
Subject: try this
Date: Fri Oct 5 21:32:42 EDT 2001
Comments:
Supposing there is a god, and that god sometimes sends down some very important guys to do something, now I propose an unusual exercise: what would one present day important guy have to say about, say, Damasio´s "Descarte's error"? Political exercise: what would be the relative worth of such reviews?
Name: Juan Carlos Cruz
Username: juancarloscruz@hotmail.com
Subject: Book reading and exercise
Date: Sat Oct 13 21:20:53 EDT 2001
Comments:
Hello, how are you? Thank God for this wonderful service of allexperts.com. Well, I am a 28 year old and I study Psychology, and I suffer from depressive moods, and mild-depression, so I have to walk to increase my self esteem and moods and I found out that students that read a lot of books cannot engage in hard sports because then they'd feel too tired to read/study. So after that I quit sports altogether in order to have more energies for the reading, but now I feel so slugish and even more depressed which in turn makes me feel bad and I cannot study because I feel depressed. So to summ it all up here is my main question: Is exercising 3 days a week, 20 mins. in the afternoon good to lift moods?? Thanks a lot Your friend Juan Carlos Cruz
Name: Juan Carlos Cruz
Username: juancarloscruz@hotmail.com
Subject: Book reading and exercise
Date: Sat Oct 13 21:21:28 EDT 2001
Comments:
Hello, how are you? Thank God for this wonderful service well, I am a 28 year old and I study Psychology, and I suffer from depressive moods, and mild-depression, so I have to walk to increase my self esteem and moods and I found out that students that read a lot of books cannot engage in hard sports because then they'd feel too tired to read/study. So after that I quit sports altogether in order to have more energies for the reading, but now I feel so slugish and even more depressed which in turn makes me feel bad and I cannot study because I feel depressed. So to summ it all up here is my main question: Is exercising 3 days a week, 20 mins. in the afternoon good to lift moods?? Thanks a lot Your friend Juan Carlos Cruz
Name: Benjamin Nelson
Username: lucid@lucid.org
Subject: Blindsight Test Results
Date: Sat Oct 20 11:19:42 EDT 2001
Comments:
On first attempt: Score of 20 hits: 90% of 17 seen: 100% of 0 maybes: - of 3 not seen: 33% Settings: Speed: 4 Rad.: 5 Cont: -3
Name: Norm
Username: norcam@telus.net
Subject: Arrows
Date: Tue Oct 30 19:38:42 EST 2001
Comments:
This question has probably been posed and I'm too lazy to seek back through the files, but "WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF THE GREEN ARROWS/ YELLOW BACKGROUND TEST IF YOU REVERSE THE COLOURS?" Same test, same questions but yellow arrows pointing right.
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject: learning style
Date: Sun Nov 4 22:51:52 EST 2001
Comments:
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject:
Date: Thu Nov 8 00:30:49 EST 2001
Comments:
Name: DANIEL BUFFUNGTON
Username: DANVBUFFINGTON @AOL
Subject: GSR
Date: Thu Nov 8 00:33:29 EST 2001
Comments:
I need schematic for a sensitive Tarchanoff phenomena galvanic skin response devise thanks
Name: Paula Thomas
Username: Paulabillie@hotmail.com
Subject: Juan Carlos Cruz
Date: Thu Nov 15 09:15:01 EST 2001
Comments:
I've just discovered this site which looks excellent, although I've just "skimmed" through it. I just wanted to post a reply on the subject of exercise and mood. I know from anecdotal and personal experience that 20 minutes exercise 3 times a week can and almost certainly does "lift" mood. The extent to which it can improve mood and the length of time it last varies depending on the individual but simply engaging in active/aerobic activity alters brain chemistry (notably endorphins - resulting in a mood enhancing effect), and to get into the less scientific more spiritual/wholistic aspect of "being" its true to say a healthy state has to include "balancing" energies (intellectual, physical, emotional etc). Overdosing intellectually takes its toll somewhere down the line in a similar way to eating too much of the same kind of food maybe? Hope this helps in some way. If Juan (or anyone else) would like to talk more about this please contact me at my email address: Paulabillie@hotmail.com.
Name: Mylena Rojas
Username: mylerm55@hotmail.com
Subject: children and adults
Date: Thu Jan 3 01:48:40 EST 2002
Comments:
Hi, my name is Mylena, and would like to know if you can help me to find out what are the differences between a child's brain and an adult's brain. Thanks, Mylena
Name: Rebecca L. C
Username: sillygrl0123@aol.com
Subject: gender
Date: Sun Jan 6 21:55:38 EST 2002
Comments:
Could you please help me find the what part of the brain reacts most to music and how gender relates to thinking process. thank you, Rebecca L. C
Name: Tania Romero
Username: buggleboy33@yahoo.com
Subject: Brain and Behavior
Date: Sun Jan 27 17:30:17 EST 2002
Comments:
Talking about the effects of the brain on animals is as complex as talking about religion. There is no right or wrong answer because we do not obtain God’s manuscript to answer our uncertainties. Yes, yes…I know, one could argue that the bible holds the key to God’s purpose. But then again, how do we know that some of the statements in the bible aren’t lies? (I apologize if I have offended anyone). The truth is that in talking about these subjects, we have to include the issue of belief. We believe that everything the bible says is true and it is our faith that keeps us believing we should live our lives a certain way. This is also true when it comes to the brain. We believe or accept what we see around us because we don’t have another example of what reality is. Some of us belief that everything we see and do is in the brain. In our discussion, we played with the idea that our behavior is our brain. But just as there are uncertainties about the bible, we cannot be sure that this is true. How do we know that our behavior is not a stem of our brain, or just another aspect of brain function? But then there is the issue that there are many types of behavior. There is instinctual behavior, which some might argue, does not require a thinking process at all. It is made up of chemical reactions that are responsible for the way you react to something in your environment. So where do our instincts come from if they don’t require thinking? Something else discussed in class was the fact that your environment also has to do with the way that your brain develops. Mentioned in class but not identified as something else that affects that development is time. Not only does the environment that one is subjected to account for some of the developmental changes of one’s brain, but also the times in which one lives as well. Our brain is not infinite like the sky, as Emily Dickinson mentioned in her poem. The brain is limited to the ideas of the time it lives in. Time creates boundaries for the development of the brain. Do we purposely imagine these boundaries? Where does imagination fit into this whole issue? What is imagination? If we do train our mind to create boundaries, then can we also train it not to?
Name: cb
Username: cbarnes@brynmawr.edu
Subject:
Date: Mon Jan 28 13:59:21 EST 2002
Comments:
Have you ever had someone tell you to "go with your instincts", or "listen to your stomach"? Whether we call them visions, dreams, gut feelings, or just feelings, they all mean intuition. Intuition gives us the sharpest insight into decisions or problems we encounter daily. Intuition is immediate cognition and it never seems rational to act on it. M. R. Wescott described it as "the process of reaching accurate conclusions based on inadequate information". No matter how illogical it sounds, acting on your intuition always seems to be beneficial. The truth is, science can not pinpoint where this perception of feeling, hearing, or seeing comes from. Thus, it seems natural for people to dismiss it. But, intuition is common to all of us. It is like an underdeveloped sense. Intuition hits us all the time. Even little things like knowing who will be on the other end of the phone when it rings. Many nurses act on intuition even though they can not give the doctor a reason why they think the patient is in trouble. Intuition explains why we happened to pick the lottery ticket at the right time, or why stockbrokers have an expertise for picking the winners. Our intuition is an inner voice prompting us to act and behave. It hits us immediatly, and may seem illogical, but for some inexplicable reason, we have the confidence to act on it. There is more to behavior than neuronal connections and chemicals that remain in the brain.
Name: Dennis Gordon
Username: ZYLONN@aol.com
Subject: FREE WILL
Date: Thu Feb 7 21:13:20 EST 2002
Comments:
The term "free will" to me just means a lack of external restriction on the satisfaction of my programs.The illusion of true free will involves the complexity of the interplay among internal conflicting programs. The illusion is caused by two things: 1. The unpredictability of the outcome due to the complexity of the interplay of the conflict, and 2. The subjective feeling of stress during the conflict. Thus free will involves no deep mystery. The only profound mystery is sentience, which cannot be implied by any permutation of mayerial or geometric behavior. Sentience must be a potential already built in to the cosmos, tpo be made manifest via material cognitive processes and/or neural substructure.
Name: Adriums
Username: adria@umail.ucsb.edu
Subject: Evolutionary Psychology
Date: Mon Mar 4 21:13:56 EST 2002
Comments:
What about evolutionary ideas? The possibility that the equipotentiality assumption is wrong? Any stimulus is not equally paired with any response. Humans are not blank slates. Take the example of a friend of mine from high school who actually attends your school and has a papaer somewhere on this site. SHe is very afraid of snakes, even before she ever saw a live one she knew they were evil. How? Innate mechanisms that evolved when our hunter gatherer ancestors needed to stay away from snakes or else the would Die. an experiment like that has been done with chimps, where they raise a chimp in a place where he would never see a snake and then show him a rubber snake, and he gets totally freaked out. No conditioning to tell him snakes are evil. anyway, I could go on for ever. my posting here is a whim. Hi alice. hope bryn Mawr is peachy keen. moose
Name: Brian Gordon
Username: brgordon31@hotmail.com
Subject: Blank Slate
Date: Mon Mar 11 00:24:06 EST 2002
Comments:
Is the brain a blank slate? If so are some peoples slates cleaner then others (Easier to write on) ? Does the brain REALLY think? Maybe it randomly generates words according to behavioral rules we learn according to which society we grow up in I.e. We develop a vocabulary according to what we hear or read and then generate thought forms based on what we hear or read the most Perhaps we REALLY are just energy and this energy is affected by other energies which then cause chemical imbalances which we try to rebalance through eating and sleeping What can not be balanced builds up and becomes EMOTION We then charge certain thoughts with these EMOTIONS in order to repeat the pleasurable ones This makes our thought patterns repetive and leads to repetitive behavior My theory predicts that which we call "Intelligence" is just behavior that is rewarded Intelligence Testing is then simply a reinforcement of behavior society approves of Rewards include but are not limited to better education which leads to better jobs which leads to more money which leads to more material goods in the case of the male which leads to better marriage prospects therefore promise sustained sexual pleasure and intimacy as long as the numbers do not go down Many say IQ does not decline and it predicts happiness According to my theory this is as impossible as the weather staying the same True certain environments are more prone to cold weather and others to warm weather but weather itself is in constant flux So I predict that intelligence like the weather is created by inside and outside influences and there is no stable predictor of success or failure Intelligence to me is a potential rather then a constant Not only is the slate blank when we come into this world but the slate must remain blank our entire lives in order for us to continue to write on it On this blank slate we continually erase more then we write so as to leave room to be who we really ARE No one equation or single number will ever sum up the potential of the human mind or explain away the soul which breaks the rules faster then scientist can make them Rules are defined as descriptions of what might be not of what IS The prison of concepts is like a hall of distorted mirrors When all these mirrors shatter you are left with who you really are The question remains can you face the blank slate of your being with nothing written on it?
Name: Krystal Hernandez
Username: musicaamo@hotmail.com
Subject: current drug research on neurobiology and the treatment of mental illness
Date: Sat Mar 23 15:34:34 EST 2002
Comments:
I am looking for any articles on the above subject
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject: Effects of Alcohol on the brain
Date: Tue Apr 2 20:41:51 EST 2002
Comments:
Name: Christie
Username: honeyp26@aol.com
Subject: Alcoholism
Date: Tue Apr 2 20:43:19 EST 2002
Comments:
What are the effects on the brain from alcoholism?
Name: Andy
Username: usage1@yahoo.com
Subject: Christie a (short) reply
Date: Mon Apr 22 17:28:01 EDT 2002
Comments:
i am no big expert but i wrote an essay on that a couple of years ago - you want to look at Kluver-Bucy syndrome i think. that is directly related to alcholism:)
Name: Laura Cody
Username: lecody@excite.com
Subject: Free Will and Awareness
Date: Thu May 9 17:21:16 EDT 2002
Comments:
It has been awhile since I last saw Paul's arrows. This time I quickly saw the arrows going both ways. Paul, that is just knowing that the arrows are buried within. Nothing to do with free will or being able to "learn" free will. Free Will is an abstract concept meant to molify us into thinking we have choices that are truly free of mental and physical baggage. It makes us feel safer, in control. The truth may be closer to someone's previous comment of man's collective insanity, although I doubt I mean it in the way John Bapty Oates means it. Awareness is what fuels humanity's insanity. Because we are so aware of our existence, we are also keenly aware of non-existence and that is what makes us crazy coming out of the starting gate. It gives rise to philosphy, psychology, religion, and all other sorts of abtract disciplines. So notions of free will, salvation, and an afterlife, or the opposite, the Hindu belief of attaining nirvana, and not to forget culture, are all ways in which we deal with that fear. That takes care of most of our psychological behavior. Then, much, if not all, of our physical behavior stems from our biological imperative for survival and procreation. Were we not so aware, we would have no need for such lofty pursuits, or science, or coming up with mechanisms to allay our fear of non-existence such as free will.
Name: John Bapty Oates
Username: johnb-oates@humantruth.org
Subject: Fundamentals
Date: Wed May 29 14:40:05 EDT 2002
Comments:
Humanity is anchored in the conscious sphere, represented by self-will. It lives by using its conscious mind, strongly influenced by instinct. The conscious mind is incapable of truth as is demonstrated by the fact that it may be used by instinctive self-will. Our insanity stems from the fact that, lacking true guidance, their conscious minds enable human individuals to follow instincts which their high intelligence should make redundant, to adopt any faith, form any opinion, take any action they choose, restrained, perhaps, only by the 'still small voice of conscience'. This is the 'free will' which, together with all the instances of reckless conscious thinking which Laura Cody mentions, contribute to man's insanity. Laura Cody also says 'awareness is what fuels humanity's insanity'. Yes, because the conscious mind cannot make true sense of that awareness. It is a remarkable fact that we unknowingly rely on a mind which is unreliable. The conscious mind cannot be relied upon because it can be used for any purpose. It can be taught, instructed, conditioned, manipulated - and by what? By a self which has a will but no mind, and which is merely a means of arbitrary choice and decision, without the benefit of true guidance. That faculty which makes us potentially a truly intelligent species, the postconscious mind, is capable of truth, or humantruth. That is its sole function, but we ignore it except for its conscience, and we know well enough that it is impossible to follow true conscience when in the grip of a false framework of living. Our true human nature is to submit the self and conscious mind utterly to the true guidance of the postconscious mind - to be supraconscious. Our will would then no longer be free to 'do wrong', but to 'do right'. Necessary to our then sustaining the state of supraconsciousness would be a humantrue w
Name: John Bapty Oates
Username: johnb-oates@humantruth.org
Subject: Fundamentals
Date: Wed May 29 14:56:26 EDT 2002
Comments:
The ending of my foregoing posting should read 'would be a humantrue world framework of life.
Name: IntelligentWoman
Username: ajoliefille@aol.com
Subject: Has the brain anything to do with the heart?
Date: Wed Jul 10 20:22:06 EDT 2002
Comments:
Hi. I am asking myself questions on the intriguing subject of the brain. Before tapping any further on the subject, may I use an example? I took an "Enlightment and Romanticism, the 18th century" humanities class one year ago. I learned about the two different philosophies that existed concerning human nature during these periods. The Enlightment period was mahighlighted by rational thinking whereas the Romantic era by the expression of the emotions. Biologically, we all know that the brain and heart are connected by blood vessels. Emotionally and psychologically, I think they are connected in the sense that one cannot express one's feeling (from the heart) without using the brain to let those feelings out (language). Would this also apply to crying, whining, laughter and any other outbursts from the heart? How would this apply to metaphysics? Something I am itching to also say is this: What is the most important anyways, and what else will matter when one is near to death? Is it the brain or the heart? That's for you to ponder.
Name: John Bapty Oates
Username: johnb-oates@humantruth.org
Subject: brain/heart relationship
Date: Fri Jul 26 05:58:20 EDT 2002
Comments:
May I attempt to answer the question raised by Intelligent Woman "Has the brain anything to do with the heart?" (Wed Jul 10 20:22:06 EDT 2002) The brain, chief among the animal faculties, provides intelligence. The heart is a pump which provides the vital blood-flow. Both are essential inter-connected parts of the individual, whether human or animal. In animals (once including ourselves) emotion is a tool of instinct, incorporating will and persuading creatures with limited powers of reason nevertheless to behave in ways necessary to their survival. Animal emotion operates via the nervous system with which the brain is integral. In humans, by tradition the brain has been associated with cold calculation and the heart with warm impulsive emotion. That which distinguishes the human is possession of a brain potentially advanced but as yet not fulfilled in that, excepting for conscience, it has largely ignored its major part the postconscious mind. The human species has developed to the ultimate the conscious mind which chiefly serves self-will and the instinctive drives, not the moral truths of the postconscious. Free of those moral truths, the conscious is also capable of manipulating the nervous system. The postconscious mind is free and independent enabling it, potentially, to develop reason to its optimum function, which is truth. In the human, truth, or humantruth, should take the place of instinct as guide to behaviour. Some instinctive impulsions, such as to take by force, would then be eradicated and others, such as the desire to give, would be strengthened. The will must be subject not to instinct but to the postconscous mind which, served by the conscious, takes responsibility for the general well-being. Of course, collectively we presently fall far short of our potential, and it is difficult for the reasoning mind to know how to behave when in the grip of a still instinctively guided reality. Generally speaking individuals try to follow conscience, but often worldly circumstances do not permit. Frequently feelings take over, sometimes turning to violent conflict. Ideally, we would never allow any consideration or emotion to contravene the results of true reason, ie to go against the basic rules of behaviour set out by the po
Name: John Bapty Oates
Username: johnb-oates@humantruth.org
Subject: brain/heart relationship
Date: Sun Jul 28 03:43:10 EDT 2002
Comments:
The last word of the previous contribution was ommitted - postconscious
Name: mohan
Username: jaganmohancgg@yahoo.com
Subject: question
Date: Mon Aug 9 06:49:35 EDT 2004
Comments:
The working of brain is too complex but can two brains think alike
Name: sarah
Username: shahin_jd@yahoo.com
Subject: my dissertation
Date: Mon Jun 26 13:44:30 EDT 2006
Comments:
hi every body i'm sara A phD student in motor behavior from iran. I like to work on brain for my dissertation but I have a big problem. I like to work on a new topic but I cant find any good topic. is there any body here who can help me. thanks alot dear friends

Go to first comment or Post a comment
| Brain and Behavior Forum | Brain and Behavior | Serendip Home |

Send us your comments at Serendip
© by Serendip 1994- - Last Modified: Wednesday, 02-May-2018 10:53:11 CDT